03.03.07 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Guest and New Student
2. BKF Punching DrillCountering a Throw

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Warm-Ups
2. Focus Mitts
3. Lunge Punches
4. Mat Work
5. Technique Line¼ Speed Sparring

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Guest and New Student to TKI
A gentleman from Ireland by the name of Donal has decided to work out with us while he is here working on assignment in Raleigh. He is a second degree Black belt in the Ed Parker American Kenpo system. He seems sharp and attentive and it was great to have him in class today.

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BKF Punching Drill
Sifu had us doing a drill that I vaguely remember doing in California during the West Coast Kenpo Confederation. I’m not sure what to call it but it came from Steve Mohammed and the BKF so I’m just going to call it the BKF Punching Drill. It’s interesting in how it opens up the attacker. It starts by stepping forward with the right foot while punching with the left, then is immediately followed by stepping forward with the left and punching with the right. It sounds simple but seems to run contrary to the way we have been wired.

When I first saw this, the drill was identical, but the targets were specific; the first punch with the left hand went to the patch on the gi which turned the body slightly, allowing for the perfect follow-up with the right straight in on his center. I’m not sure if the instructions Sifu gave us today were that specific, but that is the way Walt and I did the drill just the same. After getting past the feeling of “crossing yourself up”, it seems like this could work really well utilized correctly in the appropriate application.

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Focus Mitt Drills
We worked a bit with the pads again today, first with a combination that was really awkward for me, and then some “Yes-No-Yes” drills. The combination we did was reminiscent of the BKF drill but with a twist. The series started with the left foot forward and you throw a right straight punch to the left pad, then a right back knuckle to the right pad, then step forward with the right foot while throwing a left straight punch, and finishing with an elbow to the left pad. This felt so unnatural. With sincere focus, I could do the combination as described, but as soon as I ‘let go’ and tried to flow with it, my body just didn’t want to do this! I felt all crossed up and my timing felt way off, especially with that last elbow. We didn’t do this drill long and then moved on.
The other focus mitt drills we did were the “yes-no” drills. We did combinations of 3 and 4 with Sifu calling them out. I was partnered with Walt for this and he never holds back. When it was my turn, Walt reminded me to get more body torque involved in the punch, which improved the power of the strike. My accuracy was fine but my form needed that tweak from Walt. I did notice something today that I need to watch though, and I wonder if it comes from the heavy bag work I have been doing. The last thing I need is to be picking up bad habits there. What I noticed was that my punches seem to have increased their “hang time” a bit. One of the things I focused on very intently when I first started drilling Kenpo is the principle that the strike should return as fast as it goes out (or faster!). This holds true with both kicks and punches. It seemed today that my punching was hanging out there longer than I remember. I’ll have to watch and work on that.

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Lunge Punches
After the focus mitt drills, we did some quick lunge punching. We did 10 on each side at a moderate speed, and then did 10 more on each side at a faster pace as dictated by Sifu. The first set I focused primarily on form, making sure that I was turning the hips/torso correctly and bringing the foot up as close to 90 degrees as possible – and just as importantly, returning to the neutral bow position between punches. It’s really easy to let yourself cheat on this one and just keep the feet in place after the 3rd or 4th punch. When we sped up the form is supposed to be the same, of course, but things can get away from you a little bit if you try to rush too fast.

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Mat Work
We spent a fair amount of time on the mats today. We started out with just a regular forward roll staying down and breaking the fall. It seems like it had been a while since I had done this and the first couple were a little weak. After that, I was fine. Next was the forward roll coming up into a fighting stance or neutral bow. By this time I was warmed up and did fine on both the left and right sides. Then came the biggy. Sifu said: “For those who can, go ahead and do air rolls.” I know the technical items involved in an air roll, and have come really close to doing them, but today I seemed to just be crashing to the mat. I got to the point that it was beating me up worse than sparring and I decided to go back to forward rolls for a few turns. One of these days I’ll get that one down.

After a good warm up on the mats, we lined up facing away from the mirrors and did some push drills. At first it was just the idea of being pushed forward unexpectedly. I think everyone in class was familiar with this except possibly Brandon, and of course, Donal, who just joined us today. After a couple of turns, Sifu stepped in and started pushing us, except he didn’t push the way we typically do. Generally when we push the guy ahead of us we push from the shoulders or area of the upper back. Sifu was pushing us forward from our hips. Obviously, along with being unexpected, this forces you to adjust and get your body aligned properly for the fall, if indeed you are going to roll forward. It was an interesting twist but he used this as a pre-curser to another item…

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Countering A Throw
The push drills we did where Sifu pushed us from the hips led into defense against a throw. He first used me to demonstrate how if I was going to do a seoi-nage (overhead throw) that it can be quickly neutralized by pushing forward on my hips or small of the back from behind. This does a couple of things – it forces me to correct for balance, but it also takes away one of the three points necessary for executing the throw: the “hip bump” to initiate the movement. Sifu also used Phyl to demonstrate another throw by doing the same thing. For something so simple, this is incredibly effective.

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Technique Line
We did a technique line today that allowed everyone to practice their own techniques for a few different strikes. It also allowed us to watch Donal as he executed his American Kenpo techniques for the same strikes. The first one we did was defense against a straight left. I was able to do Beheading the Dragon based on the techniques I have learned so far. It was cool to go through the line today because there were so many different ‘body types’ and levels of experience to adapt to. It was also interesting to see the American Kenpo moves that Donal was doing.

The next strike was a defense against a straight right. For this one, I had three techniques I could draw from: Returning Serpent, Stopping the Storm, and Circling Serpent. It was interesting for me to note that I had tendencies to do different techniques with different people depending on how they moved in. For instance, I found it easier to do Returning Serpent on those with longer reach. Of course, only going through the line once hardly gives me enough to get a really good idea, but it did stick out in my mind.

The last strike we did in the technique line was a defense against a left hooking punch. For this one I executed Thunder and Lightning as well as Raking Hammer. I was fine with Thunder and Lighting but was hit and miss with Raking Hammer. I found myself trying to go too fast with it and I would try to move everything at once. For instance, I dropped into the initial block okay, but for some reason I was moving in on the downward hammer fist instead of finishing that move an then doing the appropriate foot replacement and leg buckle. Of course, I was corrected by Sifu because I didn’t execute the technique correctly, but after we broke off for a water break I did the exact same technique in the air like I have practiced a million times and did it fine. It shows how much I need to practice this on a body to really pull it into my mental arsenal.

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¼ Speed Sparring
We had plenty of time so each of us was able to spar everyone else in turn today. I started off with Sifu and was promptly tagged about 3 times before I got into the right frame of mind. After that I still got tagged but at least it wasn’t for being sloppy. I think if there was a theme to my sparring today, it was that I kept opening myself up for straight in shots. Sifu wasn’t the only one to capitalize on this. I didn’t realize what the reason was until I had gotten through most of the guys in class. By the time I got to Walt and he charged in square with arms high a couple of times I realized what I was doing and attempted to angle off more. Sparring with Donal was fun of course because we are still new to each other. He made an observation that we all have a tendency to use orbits and did a lot of flowing with the hands and arms. He sort of seemed to be more of linear puncher, or at least that is what he was showing me. As a second degree, I’m sure he has a much greater arsenal than that. Anyway, it was a good workout today and it pretty much wiped me out.